Hunger and the Eucharist

The purpose of this paper is to share a few, primarily biblical ideas, relating hunger and Eucharist.

A climatic mment in the Eucharistic liturgy occurs when the priest exclaims: "Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" and the congregation replies, "Alleluia, let us keep the feast." (BCP, p. 337) The reference is to Passover, and the original Eucharistic meal of Jesus and his disciples occurred at Passover. The theme catches up many elements, but the fundamental reference is to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and to God's gift of the land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

This event, the deliverance from Egypt, is the foundational event of the Old Testament faith in that the true nature of God was revealed in this event. Scripturally speaking, the Exodus began with Yahweh's words to Moses from the burning bush. There God revealed his nature and his plans for his people. "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their suffering, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exodus 3:7-8) In light of this passage we may note that God heard the cry of his people. He is a God who hears people's cry and responds to their necessities. He is not remote, he "comes down" and does specific things for people. In responding to the suffering of his people, he not only responded to their political oppression, but to their hunger as well. He promised a land flowing with milk and honey and delivered on the promise. In other words, God heard and their cry, and he expressed his concern for them by using his resources, the earth, for their benefit. Whatever else Eucharist celebrates, it proclaims a God who acts in favor of people. He gives people land, access to work, the blessing of earning their daily bread.

It is not simply enough, though important (the Manna in the wilderness), to give people charity. People need land and jobs so they can work. In future paragraphs I will speak of God's mercy as revealed in the new covenant of Jesus Christ. His work there does not, however, deny his previous work. Article VII of the Articles of Religion states the matter as follows: "The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and the New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man being both God and Man." (BCP, p. 869.) That Jesus Christ was involved in the giving of land is seen in the New Testament in Jesus statement, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." The word "meek" is not an adequate translation. The Hebrew antecedents of the term refer to a class of people, those without land, without jobs, without financial or economic security. As they wait upon the Lord, God will fulfill their need. Like Israel in Egypt, God's will is that they be given land and work.

The provision of land or jobs commensurate with human dignity and ability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for alleviating hunger. The problem is far more complicated and its solution correspondingly more difficult. The problem is the problem of sin. Even though Israel was given the land and the freedom to use it, she trampled on God's commandments, and under God's judgment, lost the land he had once given her. A simple equation emerged: the result of sin is God's judgment, the loss of the land, foreign occupation and economic deprivation. In its simplest terms this view has come to be termed the deuteronomic view of history. The result of virtue is God's abundance, the result of sin starvation, oppressions, and want. This view did not withstand scrutiny, although it does point to a fundamental truth -- that land, work, and food, God's material blessing is an aspect of how God and people treat each other in that the final causes of hunger have to do with sin, and not simply the laws of the marketplace, or even the workings of the natural world such as droughts. As is well known, the world could easily feed all of its people if its citizens possessed the will to do so. Against a simplified view of hunger Israel developed a more complex and penetrating analysis as to the causes of human deprivation. It is to be remembered that from the divided Kingdom until the time of Christ Israel was frequently a bagatelle in the winds of great socioeconomic powers, a small pawn in the international power game. It was frequently invaded, its people crushed, its lands swept up into an international economy and exploited for foreign gain rather than local use. The view arose that hunger was the result of exploitation and political oppression, that it had its roots in sin, whether Israel's sin or the sin of foreign aggressors. A body of literature arose under these conditions whose desperate hope was the coming of the Lord. It was believed that the Yahweh would come and reign, and reign directly. At that time there would be a great reversal. The weak and deprived would be lifted up by a divine act, while the rich and powerful, the alien oppressor, would be crushed by Yahweh's mighty arm. These apocalyptic hopes were often intermingled with elements of vengeance, in that the apocalyptists often hoped for the punishment of Israel's enemies. In other passages, notably in the later portions of Isaiah, similar themes emerged, but here Israel was envisioned as one whose material suffering was to play no small part in God's economy of grace, and through their sacrifice all the nations would be blessed. The hope arose that Yahweh would come to Jerusalem. All the would be brought to Jerusalem, the city itself was to be lifted up, and upon the mountain God would come to his people and offer a feast for their sake. God as the host, the hungry, miserable, and starving his blessed guests. [References, seen Jeremias on Jesus' Promices to the Nations, pp. 59f.] God would appear to his people, and the climatic moment of his appearing was a banquet. In that event God would reveal himself as he really is, one who has compassion upon his people, who feeds the hungry and meets the needs of his people.

The various themes of the old Testament witness come together in Jesus Christ. He is, to use a phrase from the Eucharistic liturgy, the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the word," [BCP, p. 337.] This phrase involves two ideas, Christ conquers sin and its result hunger, and it entails sacrifice and suffering on his part. As Christ acted to overcome sin and its consequence hunger, he revealed the true nature of sin as the refusal to follow him in his work. We must above all understand his work in relation to hunger.

Jesus was influenced by many elements of the Old Testament tradition, but the hope in the eschatological meal, the reversal of all things in which the poor would be fed, and the redemptive suffering of God's chosen one, were central to his teachings and acts. The themes can be summarized by saying that only as one who voluntarily suffered hunger, dispossession, and physical deprivation could he simultaneously proclaim and reveal the redemption of bodily want -- the messianic banquet in which God will sit at table with his friends in the age to come. These themes are brought into the close proximity in the gospel accounts of the Last Supper. Luke, for example, states it in these words: "When the hour had come he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, 'I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'" Then follow the words of institution for the bread and wine, each of these words being an expression of Jesus' suffering in the hope of meeting again with his friends in the final kingdom. The moment of the institution at the Last Supper is a terrible and dramatic moment in a life in which the two themes steadily intertwined -- the voluntary laying down of one's life, one assets and security, and simultaneously the proclamation and giving of life including food as the presupposition of human existence. From the very beginning of Jesus' ministry these two themes were present. Immediately after his baptism Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil There he fasted. Fasted represented the awareness of sin, and the voluntary acceptance of the consequences of sin -- starvation. The devil tried to deflect him by appealing to his desire for bodily comfort. Jesus refused. Then the devil took him to a high mountain, and promised him the kingdoms of the earth and their national territories. Again Jesus refused. By fasting and renouncing possessions, Jesus did three things. First, he bore the consequences of sin, hunger, physical suffering, and dispossession. Secondly, he revealed the nature of sin as the lust for bodily ease and the hunger for the possessions of others. And thirdly, he revealed the way of redemption and the conquest of hunger -- only through relinquishment, the resistance to bodily ease and the security of possessions did Jesus overcome sin. What began in the garden continued throughout his life, and supremely in crucifixion and resurrection. Throughout his ministry he advised his followers to give away their possession, and he lived, as one "who had no place to lay his head." [better references] By virtue of his ordeal with the devil, his conquest of the desire for possessions and bodily ease, he was empowered to proclaim and realize the kingdom. The heart of his message was the theme of eschatological reversal. "Blessed are the poor, yours is the kingdom of heaven." . . . "Blessed are the meek for you shall inherit the earth." And then, "But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now. Alas for you who have your fill now: you shall be satisfied." (Luke 20: 20, 21, 24, 25.) These words point to an impending messianic banquet in which God would visit his people and sit at table with them in the age to come. Especially withering were Jesus' words of judgment against those who refused to share in God's impending mercy. We may think of the story of the rich man and Lazarus, or the rich young ruler who could not trade his goods for a share in the kingdom. Not only did Jesus proclaim the impending eschatological reversal, he revealed it. Some of the powerful acts of God's mercy occurred in his healings and exorcisms, but it was only when he fed the hungry, the miracle of the loaves and fishes, that the people desired to make him king. The events of his life continued onward, the themes of voluntary suffering for the sake of those in need narrowed down to the final events of his life, his crucifixion and resurrection. The crucifixion and resurrection are of a piece with what had gone before. His passion was the consummation of his previous suffering -- his hunger in the desert, the relinquishment of possessions, his life among the poor, and finally, his rejection by the state, the hostility of the people, and his crucifixion between two thieves. As it became evident that the cup of his suffering was to become full, Jesus dared to hope for the fulfillment of the kingdom as well. He claimed God's final visitation, the coming of the kingdom in which god would sit at table with his friends in the age to come. In this context the Eucharist was formed. "Take eat, this is my Body, which is given for you." and after supper, the words "Drink ye all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sin." (BCP, p. 335.) These words had their hope in the age to come, and it is a significant feature of Jesus' resurrection appearances that they occurred in intimate connection with the eschatological meal. In the resurrection Jesus ate and drank with his disciples. the mot dramatic example being his appearance as related in Luke 24;31, he only became known as he "broke the bread and handed it to them."

We have, in brief, presented several Eucharist themes in light of their biblical origins. We have left many aspects unmentioned, focusing only upon the primary Eucharistic themes. We could have noted, for example, that the biblical story of Eden, God placing humanity in a garden, has affinities with the Eucharistic meal. From that Eden story we would have noted that the result of sin, disobedience to God, is the loss of Eden, with the result that humanity is forever barred from the economic plenty of our original home. Nevertheless, we believe that we have focused upon the fundamental Eucharistic themes as they relate to hunger. We must now summarize our results.

First, as the new Passover meal, Eucharist does not deny but fulfills the first Passover. Eucharist celebrates the fact that God is a God whose mercy includes giving people the means to life -- one's own land, access to work, the dignity of earning one's own bread. With this presupposition, Eucharist goes onward to celebrate God's victory over sin and its consequence, hunger. Eucharist is a celebration with God in which God feeds his people. It is a foretaste of the heavenly messianic banquet. That is fundamental. Further, the cost of feeding his people was severe, it entailed personal relinquishment, hunger, dispossession, and the final result of death. Eucharist proclaims suffering in behalf of others as God's way of alleviating hunger. There is no banquet without relinquishment for the sake of the hungry. In contrast to this way, the path of sin is the lust for possession, security, and bodily ease. That is the cause of hunger in the world today. Finally, the Eucharist is always a commitment to follow the way of God who reveals himself in the Eucharist. For Christians, every Eucharist is a promise to suffer for others, and to suffer economic loss for the sake of others.

The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.